Of Fools and Cages
by chocoholicannanymous
Summary: A "fic of a fic", taking place during "The Story of Three Boys" by patchfire and ravingliberal. OMC p.o.v. Observations on Kurt, his time in the Warblers and after, and his relationships. Spoilers for "SO3B" up until "Eight Crazy Nights".


Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, nor would I want to with the current writing. I also don't own "Story of Three Boys", which is written by patchfire and raving liberal.

**Of Fools and Cages**

**An OMC p.o.v. from "Story of Three Boys"**

He hadn't expected to run into anyone he knew in Chicago. And if he had? Kurt Hummel surely wouldn't have topped the list.

Yet, there he was, just a few tables away, sitting with a boy Marcus assumed was the much talked about new boyfriend.

He looked happy. Smiling, relaxed, gesturing while talking animatedly about something or other. It most definitely didn't look like the blackmail situation the Warblers had been buzzing about.

He hadn't been surprised to find out Kurt and Blaine had broken up. The only surprise had been how surprised – and upset – everyone else seemed to be. Apparently, to the rest of the Warblers Kurt and Blaine were perfect and forever and _KurtandBlaine_.

Marcus hadn't seen it.

He'd never been close to Blaine, or even seen him as anything but another Warbler. In the beginning it had been primarily about keeping a safe distance from the traumatized and skittish transfer – his size often reminded those transfers of their bullies – and then it had just become habit. After all, they had nothing in common outside of the choir room, and not that much inside it.

Also, when Blaine had rebuilt himself the boy emerging had felt more like a persona than a person – and Marcus had had more than enough of fake to last him a lifetime.

He'd kept his distance from Kurt for mostly the same reasons at first, plus because of one very simple fact: he didn't see Kurt staying very long at Dalton.

To others Dalton was legacy, was a ticket to the prestigious college of their choice, a haven. To Kurt Hummel it was a refuge; safe and necessary, but also temporary.

The boy radiated an interesting mix of strength and fragility, the latter undoubtedly brought on by his father's health issues as well as the relentless bullying, and when he began healing and rebuilding the person emerging was – or so Marcus thought – was pure Kurt Hummel.

It wasn't someone Marcus could see being happy at Dalton in the long run. It also wasn't someone he could see being happy with **Blaine** in the long run.

Months had passed, and nothing – not even the sudden death of Blaine's obliviousness – had changed Marcus' perception. To Kurt Dalton with its safety and its policies and rules was a cage. A nice, fancy one, sure, but a cage still, and the boy could obviously not help rattling it.

By the time Regionals – and Blaine – had come around every word out of Kurt's mouth, every gesture and addition to his clothing had seemed to Marcus as designed to test that cage.

The Warblers hadn't seemed to really give him anything, except for the opportunity to be close to Blaine (and he'd had that anyway by then, as they were dating). The boy who'd sung as if his very existence depended on it had become bored and lipsynking.

Until that one day when he'd walked in and announced his return to McKinley.

The others hadn't understood – and Blaine's attitude, of silent-yet-screaming suffering, hadn't helped. (Neither had anything they'd heard during Blaine's unloading for the rest of the semester.)

There had been whispers about Nationals, and finances, and Marcus had been willing to admit that there was most likely some truth to that. But. What it really came down to was something so fundamental that it had shocked him speechless to realize no one else saw it. Kurt had wanted to go home.

Standing at McKinley's quad, singing back-up to Blaine, what he'd seen had only reinforced that belief. It had been blatantly clear to Marcus that Kurt, with his over the top outfit and his crazy friends, was happy. And Blaine really, really didn't understand why.

Or, for that matter, Kurt.

After that he'd just been waiting for the relationship to implode.

It had taken a little longer than he'd thought, but when the Warbler (gossip chain) newsletter reached him during the summer after he'd graduated Marcus had just nodded and returned to his work. There had been numerous e-mails and facebook messages to follow, but Marcus had mainly ignored them, except for when they'd been especially mock-worthy. Oh, he hadn't **said** anything to the others, but to himself? To his new college friends? Oh yeah.

The whining about Kurt's new, closeted boyfriend had only served to piss him of though. Seriously? Was he the only one to remember why exactly Kurt had ended up at Dalton in the first place? Had everyone else suddenly forgotten what had happened to Jeremiah the GAP employee after Blaine's disastrous serenade?

If Kurt had found someone else, good for him. If Kurt was okay with that someone staying in the closet long enough to survive the hell on Earth that was McKinley High? Shouldn't that be up to them?

When he'd caught wind of Blaine's plans to use the Sectionals' setlist to send Kurt "a message" he'd shaken his head, taken the time to send up a prayer of thanks that he wasn't an actual Warbler any longer, and pitied the ones that were. The crash-and-burn that had followed had been interesting, completely unsurprising and honestly more than well deserved. It had also, or so it had seemed been the end of Blaine's endeavor to get Kurt back.

He'd sent up thanks for that too.

Which brought him here. The boy sitting across from Kurt **had** to be the boyfriend. Only he didn't match any of the things the Warblers, led by Trent, had screamed about.

He didn't look like a hooligan. Instead he was well groomed, and dressed to impress – having no problem matching the as usual stylish Kurt Hummel. He didn't exactly look closeted either. All it took was one look to know that these two were more than friends, much more. A second and third look showed how happy and comfortable they were, and for someone like Marcus, who'd seen the many faces of Kurt Hummel before, it was also obvious that they were completely and utterly relaxed in each other's company.

They **fit** each other in a way Kurt and Blaine never quite had, and Marcus knew the truth just by looking at them.

This was the real thing. They were in love, and it just might be the kind that would last them a lifetime.

It was nothing less than what Marcus thought Kurt deserved.

Blaine Anderson was a fool, and Kurt Hummel had escaped his cage. That, he thought, summed up the situation quite nicely.

When the couple left, holding hands, oblivious to their surroundings, he raised his glass slightly and saluted their backs. Catching Alice's confused look he simply said: "to love."

~The End ~


End file.
